Unit 1 - Geographical Skills and Challenges



Skills for GCSE Geography A Unit 1

This revision handout refers to questions from papers which are available with their marking scheme on Geography is easy).

A- Basic skills :

Describe the distribution of….

Graph: overall change; highest/lowest= range of values; anomalies/fluctuations

Map: uneven distribution; highest/lowest/anomalies located using compass directions; is there any cluster of values? Where?

All answers must include data.

B- Cartographic skills OS maps will be 1:50 000 only.

The Figure below shows the main lines of latitude and longitude. If you don’t know them, time to learn them!!!

Major line of latitude:

Arctic Circle (66° 33′ 44″ N)

Tropic of Cancer (23° 26′ 16″ N)

Equator (0° latitude)

Tropic of Capricorn (23° 26′ 16″ S)

Antarctic Circle (66° 33′ 44″ S)

Major line of longitude: Prime (Greenwich) Meridian: 0°

|1- Recognise symbols using a key (no need to memorise the symbols b/c they are always provided in the exam) e.g. June 2010 |

|Mark the following onto Figure 1b. Use the key on the OS map to help you. (4) |

|1. Two tourist information features |

|2. Two water features |

|3. The route of the A1068. |

|The road network on the sketch map is incomplete. Complete the road network by adding the A road. (1) |

|2- Complete four and six figure references (Booklet on skills- page 3) e.g. June 2010 |

|3- Calculate straight line distance (skills- page 19) |

|4- Calculate winding distances (skills- page 19) |

|e.g. June 2010 What is the distance to the nearest kilometre along the railway line from the railway station in Alnmouth (grid square 2311) to the |

|railway station in grid square 2201? |

|5- Understand direction, using an eight-point compass (Skills page 17) |

|e.g.January 2012 |

|Study the Ordnance Survey (OS) map extract. A family who are staying at Torcross (8242) wish to drive to Salcombe (7338). Plan their route using only |

|settlement names, road numbers and directions. You may use a sketch map in your answer. (3) |

|6- Understand how cross-sections are constructed |

|7- Complete and annotate cross-sections |

E.g. January 2011

[pic]

[pic]

|8- Describe patterns of vegetation – woodland. |

|e.g. June 2010 Describe the distribution of woodland shown on the map. Use map evidence in your answer. (4) |

|9- Describe patterns of land use. (Textbook pages 6 and 7) |

|10- Describe patterns of communication networks ( |

|In examination questions you might be asked to describe a whole range of physical and human features on a map. The technique is exactly the same as the |

|description of any other pattern. |

|If you are asked to describe the distribution of settlements on a map extract imagine them as simple dots. Take no notice of their size. |

|11- Describe and understand using evidence from an OS map the site and situation of a settlement. (Textbook pages 214,215,216) |

|[pic] |

|e.g.June 2011 |

|Describe the site and situation of Durham. Use map evidence in your answer. (3) |

|12- Describe and understand using evidence the shape of settlements. (Textbook page 217) |

|[pic] |

|e.g. January 2011 |

|Look again at the OS map extract. Find King’s Caple in grid square 5628 and grid square 5629. Describe the site and shape of King’s Caple. (4) |

|C- Graphical skills: Complete graphs and describe data , evaluate skills. |

|1- Line graphs Skills page 54 |

|(i) Simple line graph |

|It is a simple but highly effective way of showing continuous data. The x-axis is usually used to show change over time. The y-axis is used to display |

|data such as population. |

|Advantage: Line graphs are useful because they can suggest trends over time and can be used to estimate future patterns based on present trends). |

|(ii) Compound line graph |

|A compound line graph shows more than one piece of information. Graph is subdivided on the basis of information being displayed in lines across the |

|graph. Skills page 55 |

|(iii) A comparative line graph shows different sets of data to allow comparisons to be made. The DTM is a very specialised comparative line graph which |

|looks at how changing birth and death rates impact upon the total population. See TB page 234. |

|2- Bar chart Booklet page 17 |

|[pic] |

|Comparative bar graphs |

|[pic] |

|Divergent bar graphs |

|[pic] |

|Compound bar graphs Booklet page 21 |

|[pic] |

| |

|Advantage: Bar graphs can show positive and negative values |

|Disadvantage: If there is a wide range of data to be displayed, the bar graph loses its impact as it becomes difficult to read accurately. |

|3- Histograms Booklet page 23 |

|[pic] |

|Disadvantage of histograms: too many or too few classes can hide important patterns in the data. |

|4- Flow lines (used to show movement as either arrows or lines) |

|[pic] |

|Disadvantage of flow lines: Choosing either the wrong scale of map or the wrong scale for your arrows/lines will make your map look very unclear. |

|6- Rose / ray diagrams Skills page 64 |

|Consists of straight lines which show movement or a connection between two places. |

| |

|Advantage: show the direction as well as the data |

|Disadvantage: Only used with a limited type of data |

|7- Pictograms Booklet page 25 |

|[pic] |

| |

|Disadvantage: only a limited range of data can be displayed |

|8- Pie diagrams Skill page 60 |

|[pic] |

|Advantage: Give a good visual representation of the data. |

|Disadvantage: Too many categories (more than six) make a pie chart difficult to interpret |

|9- Scattergraphs Skills page 76 (To be learned from booklet) |

|June 2011 |

|Complete the scattergraph (Figure 2) for sites 7 and 8. Use the data in the table below. |

|Give one reason why a scattergraph is a good way of displaying this type of data. (2) |

|10- Pyramid graphs (Divergent bar graph) Textbook page 248 |

|[pic] |

|e.g. June 2010 Complete the population graph for Warkworth and England (Figure 2a). |

|Use the data in the table below. |

|Comment on the age structure of Warkworth compared to England. |

|Use population data in your answer. |

|11- Triangular graphs Skills page 66 |

|[pic] |

|Advantage( 1st bullet point)/ Disadvantage |

|[pic] |

|12- Choropleth maps Booklet page 40 |

|[pic] |

|Disadvantage |

|- Impression given is that abrupt changes have occurred at each boundary. The reality is probably that changes is much more gradual. |

|e.g.January 2012 |

|Study Figure 2. It shows the population densities of some parishes in South Devon. |

|Complete Figure 2. Use the data in the table below. |

|Describe the pattern of population density shown on Figure 2. Use population density data in your answer. (4) |

|Figure 2 is a choropleth map. State one advantage and one disadvantage of using a choropleth map to display data. (2) |

|13- Isoline/flow lines Skills page 56 |

|Isolines: Lines which represent the same value along their whole length, e.g. contour lines. |

|Flow lines show movement between places. The thickness of the line indicates the amount of movement. The direction can be shown by an arrow. |

|14- Dispersion graph Skills page 72 |

|[pic] |

|Advantage: |

|This technique is a useful visual representation of the dispersion in a data set. |

|Disadvantage: |

|- Dispersion diagrams usually display only one set at a time. |

|15- Proportional symbols such as pie diagrams on maps Skills page 74 |

|Symbol varies its size in proportion to the quantities it represents. |

|In proportional divided pie diagrams on maps, the area of the circle is proportional to the overall values in the data set. |

|[pic] |

|[pic] |

|16- Topological diagrams (Simplifying maps) Booklet page 44 |

|[pic] |

|Disadvantages: |

|[pic] |

London underground topological map

[pic]

|D- GIS skills |

|What is GIS? |

|A geographical information system (GIS) integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, managing, analyzing and displaying all forms of |

|geographical information. |

|e.g. Using the census data to generate a choropleth map of the population density of different counties within the UK. More example page 47 in the Key |

|points box. |

|GIS layering: Data layers are the individual layers of spatial data that can be used in a GIS. Typically, each data layer shows one type of feature (such|

|as roads, rivers, states, or altitude) |

|You have used GIS layering to show the location of the three sites on a satellite image for your coursework. |

|e.g. June 2010 |

|Study Figure 2b. It shows one use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS). |

|Describe what is meant by layering information. You may use Figure 2b to help you. |

|Suggest one group of people who might use the information shown in Figure 2b. |

|January 2011 The maps in Figure 2a and Figure 2b could have been created using GIS. |

|State two advantages of using GIS compared to looking at the maps separately. (2) |

|June 2011 |

|Describe one way that ICT can be used to prepare for fieldwork or to collect fieldwork data. (3) |

|January 2012 |

|Geographical Information Systems (GIS) could be used to display the population |

|data in Figure 2. |

|(i) What is meant by the term Geographical Information Systems (GIS)? (2) |

|The population densities for some South Devon parishes is shown on Figure 2. State one other piece of information that could be added using GIS to make |

|the map more useful. (1) |

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Advantage

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